Rising To The Top
by emzjuk
Summary: It's the day before the Grammys and Mercedes Jones had sucessfully managed to keep her private life out of the press until now... Random oneshot inspired by 3x16. Rated T for language.


_**This oneshot is dedicated to Samcedes2012 who is the person who has posted all the Samcedes scenes on Vimeo. Finally I got to watch scenes like Sam at Stallionz, Sam and his parents and even Sam with Quinn and the whole 'rich white girl problems' line! And the 3x16 scenes have been played over and over by me. But anyway, this is the first thing I've written in forever so thankyou for the inspiration.**_

* * *

"_Oh hell to the NOOOOOOOO!"_

Just in time, Mercedes managed to refrain from throwing her beloved iPad across the room, instead opting for every pillow and other small item within her reach. "I cannot believe this is happening!" she yelled to nobody in particular. "Not _now! _Not _today! Especially not today!"_

Today was the day before the Grammys. She purposely had nothing planned other than a meeting with her producers, a quick visit to the gym, a quick rehearsal of her performance and her final dress fitting.

It was the second year in a row that she was going to the ceremony. Last year she had been nominated in the Best New Artist category. She hadn't won, but the exposure had done wonders for her musical career. This time round she had been nominated for five. And until thirty seconds ago, she had truly believed that this might have been her year.

She choked out a strangled sob. "Please let this not be true!"

Now it was all ruined.

Now everything was ruined.

Forever.

With shaking hands she could barely see through her tears as she grabbed her phone and hit redial on the last caller. It was answered after less than a ring.

"Baby, don't panic. It'll all be oka-"

"How the hell am I not supposed to panic!"

"Mercy calm do-"

"I'm ruined. This whole thing is ruined. And the timing couldn't be any worse. I've worked so hard to avoid scandal and now it's found me!"

"We'll sort this-"

"Sort it? How the hell are we going to do that? Oh Sam, my parents don't even know about this. By the time they wake up and see the news they'll be devastated!"

"I'm sure we can come up with some kind of damage control-"

"But Sam-"

"Will you STOP interrupting me!"

Mercedes took a raggedy breath and gulped down a sob. She heard him sigh and without seeing him, knew that he would be running his hand through his hair. "This is all my fault." She heard footsteps as he began to pace. "Mercy, we knew this was going to happen one day. Call Allie, she's trained to deal with this kind of stuff. She'll help talk you through it. It's her job for goodness sake!"

This is exactly why she needed Sam. Allie was her agent. Of course she would be able to handle this. In fact, she didn't know why she hadn't thought of that herself.

"But Sam, my parents are going to go crazy when they read this!"

"I know. I've only just got off the phone to mine. They didn't know either. They were _really_ upset that we hadn't told them. Or more importantly, that _I _had deceived them for so long. But it had to come out at some point. It was inevitable after all. The press are always digging for the next story."

It was her turn to sigh. "I guess so." She twirled the corner of her duvet around her forefinger band lowered her voice sadly. "I just wish you were here with me."

"So do I! But I'll be back in time for tomorrow night. I promise."

"I know you will."

"Okay baby, I have to go. I need to get some breakfast and-"

"Breakfast? _Breakfast? _How the hell can you be thinking about your stomach at a time like this?"

"Don't be so silly-"

"Oh so now I'm being silly? You know what Sam, just forget it!"

"Wait-"

With a yell she hung up the call and flung the phone across the room just like the other items. She watched as it hit the laminate floor, the back flying off in one direction while the battery fell out and skidded in another.

Then she dived face first back onto the duvet and sobbed.

* * *

"Oh my god Kurt, have you read this?"

Kurt eyed his boyfriend from the coffee machine that he was busy placing two espresso cups under. "How could I have possibly read anything in there when you've had the paper the whole time since we got up."

Blaine shrugged but disturbingly didn't raise a smile. He smoothed out the page he was reading and held it up closer to his nose. "Ok, listen to this!"

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine's nervous tone.

"Actually babe, on second thoughts, I think you might need to sit down for this."

Kurt opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment but seeing the expression on Blaine's face quickly closed it again. Without breaking eye contact he walked backwards towards the seat on the table opposite Blaine and sat in it heavily. "This had better be good!"

Blaine cleared his throat before he began reading:

"The pre-Grammy rumor mill has been buzzing with reports that one of its star performers is dating a former stripper. The phenomenal singer Mercedes Jones has been photographed with Samuel Evans, 25, a former stripper for the nightclub Stallionz in Kentucky who went by the name of White Chocolate.

As well as being nominated in five categories in this year's prestigious ceremony, including Best Album for the huge chart success 'Rising To The Top', Miss Jones is also due to perform a vocal tribute to the late Whitney Houston who sadly passed away six years ago.

Until now, the curvaceous diva has always remained tight lipped about her personal life. Despite this, her name has been connected to several celebrities over the last year, including the recently divorced Jay-Z, although nothing has ever been conclusive with the singer rarely being seen out and about."

Kurt failed to control the snort that came before he could suppress it and rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Jay-Z! _Really?_ Is that the best they could come up with?_"_

Blaine shot hit a death glare at the same time that he landed him a swift kick under the table and continued reading:

"A source close to the couple revealed that she and White Chocolate were just 'having a bit of fun' as Miss Jones has no plans of settling down at this point in her career."

Kurt groaned and squeezed his temple with his hand, attempting to immediately undo the damage that his frown was causing. "Fuckery…" he muttered to himself. "Complete and utter fuckery!" He pulled out his phone and immediately called his long-time friend and client but the call went straight to voicemail.

With a sigh he quickly stood. Today was going to be a tough day. "Blaine, I need you to call Satan and find out all you can about the bitch who wrote the article. I'm going round to Cedes'. She's probably locked herself in the bathroom as we speak."

"I'm already on it!" said Blaine, scrolling the contacts on his cell. Kurt turned back to the coffee machine. He grabbed one of the espressos and knocked it straight back like a shot of Tequila. He took the other with him, ignoring the protests of Blaine as he left the room.

* * *

"Mr Hummel, do you have any comments about Miss Jones' stripper friend?"  
"Mr Hummel you guys have known each other for years, do you know who this guy is?"  
"Mr Hummel, have you designed both the Grammy dresses for Miss Jones?"

Kurt turned dramatically to face the small group of reporters who had gathered at the entrance to Mercedes' apartment building. "Miss Jones requests that you respect her privacy. Neither she nor I have anything to say on the subject, so I suggest your time would be used more wisely chasing up some other story." With a flick of his hair he turned to face the one reporter who was actually filming. He shot a winning smile at the young girl who was clearly new to the E! channel because he had never seen her before. Leaning towards her microphone he said "And yes, I have personally designed both dresses myself. Prepare to be dazzled!"

With that he turned and made his way into the building, waving and smiling at Christopher, the handsome concierge as he passed.

* * *

"I see we have a code-red on our hands!" Kurt stared down at Mercedes who was slumped on her bed wearing an oversized teeshirt, pajama shorts and a pair of puffy eyes.

"Who the hell gave you keys to my apartment?" she hissed.

He took her sass in his stride. "You did. Two years ago. Besides, you knew I was coming. I messaged you and I know you never go anywhere without that iPad."

She said nothing but her eyes told him that she was grateful that he was there. "I need to use your phone."

Without a word he reached into his satchel and pulled out his spare handset. He fought a smile as he watched her reach for her phone which was now sporting a massive crack on the screen. She opened the back, pulled out the sim and transferred it to the phone that he had just given her. "You know I keep telling you to put carpet in here. You're lucky I keep this one as a spare."

She made a sound which was a lot like 'harumph' while she switched on the phone and waited for the welcome screen to finish loading. Ignoring the way it immediately beeped and buzzed with texts, voicemails, emails and instant messages she instantly made a call.

"Sam, it's me. I'm sorry for yelling and sorry hanging up. I was just thinking crazy upset things and took it out on you because you were there." She paused and sighed. "I was hoping to catch you before you went in for your pitch but I guess I missed you. I just wanted to wish you luck and tell you that I'm sorry and I love you. I didn't mean to take it out on you. Call me when you get this and let me know how it went. Love you."

While she was talking, Kurt moved to sit on the edge of her bed. When she finished she crawled over to him and let him squeeze her into a tight embrace. "Thankyou for coming Kurt!"

He said nothing, just squeezing her harder until she giggled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Today is going to be the worst day of my life!"

"I know honey. But we're going to get through it one minute at a time."

"I just finished speaking to my parents. Apparently they already knew!"

"How? You never told them!"

"I know. Apparently it was Shane attempting to discredit Sam after we broke up. It seems they decided back at that time that if I could deal with it then so could they!"

"Wow!"

"Yeah. I know. And I felt so scared having to wake them up to tell them before the news hit over there. Sam's parents haven't taken it quite so well tho."

"That's understandable. He lied to their faces at the time, telling them that he was working at the Dairy Queen. I'm sure they'll come round tho. They love him to bits. And he did it for them. He did it for love."

"That's true. But I swear, if I ever get hands on whoever wrote that article…"

"Santana's on to it."

"Santana! Oh my god I haven't heard from her in forever! How is she?"

"She's in Washington at the moment. Ironically enough, she stays in touch with Blaine quite a bit and has a lot of journalism contacts. Between those and the razor blades she still keeps in her hair we'll see if there's any way that we can get to the bottom of this."

"You think she'd do that for me?"

"She was always your Troubletone sister. Of course she will. So, what's the plan for today?"

"Allie has managed to cancel my meeting. All I need to do is make a couple of Skype calls and I have nothing else official to do. Final soundchecks will be done tomorrow but I'm skipping the song rehearsal."

"You don't need the song rehearsal anyway, your voice is always flawless."

She rolled her eyes at him but smiled anyway. "What it means is that at least I get to hide in here all day."

Kurt arched one eyebrow. "Aren't we forgetting something?"

"Ugh!" She flopped back down onto the bed. "The dresses!"

"Yes the dresses. They're in my workshop and I need you to try them on one final time young lady so like it or not you will be leaving this apartment today."

"How many are outside?"

"Not many. I told them not to waste their time as you won't be making any statements. Hopefully they'll give up quick!"

* * *

Mercedes stepped out of her room to the sound of Wyclef's 'Perfect Gentleman' coming from the TV. As she approached Kurt quickly changed the channel. After holding it together in front of Kurt, she had broken down again in the shower once the spray had hit her. Tomorrow was supposed to be the biggest night of her life. Now instead of talking about her music, people were musing over her personal life.

"How bad is it?"

Kurt shrugged. "There's no such thing as bad publicity! Lots of people are saying that he's hot. They keep endlessly showing some photo of Sam on stage with two others wearing nothing but a little pair of red shorts, mid body-roll."

Despite herself she had to smile. "Damn that Windy City. Got me every time! He'd spent the summer perfecting it."

"I'm sure he did!"

"Kurt!" She reached over to smack him. "It was an innocent summer. You know that."

"True. But nobody cares. All they know is that Sam looks like he could really put it down!"

She cringed. "Ugh. Thanks for that. And to top it off I've now got that song in my head."

"What song?"

"You didn't switch the channel fast enough."

Kurt frowned in confusion until she started to body-roll in the middle of the room.

_"Just coz he dances Go-Go  
That don't make him a hoe no  
Sammy put your red shorts on  
We're going to the disco  
We're gonna elope to Mexico  
Called up my moma  
Said I'm in love with a stripper YO!"_

He held his face in his hands. "Promise me you will _never_ do that outside of this room."

"Hmmm… I don't know. I was thinking I might give Sam his own private dance when he gets back."

He continued to shake his head. "TMI baby! TMI!"

She collapsed onto the seat next to him and unsuccessfully tried to wrestle the remote out of his hand. "Seriously Kurt. Let me see what they're saying about me!"

"It's not as bad as you think. They keep rehashing that stupid Jay-Z rumor and making unfair comparisons or they just liken the whole thing to The Bodyguard."

"The Bodyguard? Oh hell no please do NOT tell me it's because he's white!"

Kurt just shrugged. "It could be to do with you singing Whitney!"

"That's a pile of crap and you know it. I have never even spoken to Jay-Z before! We happened to be in the same room as each other once and that's it. But everyone decides we'd look good together. That we'd be perfect for each other. His ex was a black singer with a big butt and so am I which clearly means…"

"I don't think they mean it like that"

"Oh come on Kurt. I always ignore all the names they try and put me with. But have you noticed every single one of them is black? The lightest skin anyone's ever tried to pair me with was Bruno Mars after we sang that duet at a charity event! Even in this day and age, women like me don't go with white men. If you're petite and light skinned or mixed then maybe, but definitely not someone this big and black!"

He reached over and pulled her into an embrace. "Don't let anyone discredit your relationship."

"I'm trying. But the article says we're just some sort of fling. But it's been seven years Kurt, _seven years_!"

"You guys are solid Cedes. Don't let anyone make you believe otherwise."

She pulled back slightly. "What if it's me?"

"What do you mean?"

"A couple of years ago, Sam asked me to marry him. And I said yes, but not yet. What if he thinks I'm stalling? What if he uses this drama to end things with me because I'm dragging my heels with our relationship because of my career?"

"Sam loves you. He'd never just leave. He fought hard to be with you and would never simply throw that away. And he knows you love him. But your career is a part of you too. He was there right at the beginning pushing you to believe in yourself and go for it. He's not going to turn his back on you once it actually starts happening."

"I hope you're right."

"I _know_ I'm right Cedes!"

* * *

For the next twentyfour hours Kurt cancelled all his other clients so that he could stay by her side. They spent most of the time hidden in his workshop behind his boutique store while he handfinished her dresses. They talked, laughed, reminisced and hid from the world.

He held Mercedes when she cried after Sam called to say that his flight had been delayed which meant he wouldn't have the chance to see her before the ceremony. But there was no way in the world he was going to miss it, even if it meant chartering a flight of his own. She needed him more than ever and that fact was scaring her. Being with Sam was as natural to her as breathing.

The next afternoon, while she was having her hair done, Blaine walked in with a smile and a coffee for her. She took it gratefully and accepted his kiss.

"You look beautiful."

"Thanks. You don't scrub up too badly yourself! Kurt said you might be popping over."

He nodded. "I've just got off the phone with Santana."

Mercedes excused the two girls who were working on her hair and waited for him to speak.

"So it seems our favorite Latina has been busy going Lima Heights Adjacent on a certain professional Linebacker."

"Wait! Shane Tinsley?"

"The one and only. In his defence, it wasn't done maliciously. Apparently he was trying to get some pretty young journalist into bed and had lured her in with the promise of an exclusive story on a celebrity. You and Sam were simply the first thing that came to his head. The paparazzi pictures of the two of you were already out in the public domain. It was simply a matter of putting a name to the face and it would have happened at some point anyway."

"I know. It was all Sam's fault. The guy just can't seem to keep his hands off my ass in private or in public!"

"Do you blame him?"

Her response was a giggle but Blaine straightened up and folded his arms across his chest. "Seriously, I'm gay but I still would!"

"Still would what?" They both turned to see a flustered Kurt carrying two massive dress bags. Blaine rushed over to help.

"We were talking about how Sam can't keep his hands off her ass and I was letting her know that he wasn't the only one who was tempted to go there."

Kurt nodded the affirmative. "Your ass has had a harem right since Glee club. Why do you think Sam was so desperate to get you back and lock you down!"

She shook her head, laughing. "I take it you heard who the culprit was behind the revelation in the article?"

Kurt nodded. "How do you feel?"

She sighed. "You know what. I'm not even going to stress about this anymore. Shane is a distant part of my history. I'm proud of Sam and what he did for his family. I love him and I'm ready for the whole world to know it. His pitch went well yesterday and he's about to become a successful businessman in his own right. I need to let him shine by my side."

Kurt leaned in and kissed her forehead. "It's right where he belongs darling!"

* * *

"And the winner of Best Album is 'Rising To The Top' by Mercedes Jones!"

The sound was deafening and the lights were flashing so brightly that she could barely see.

For the third time that evening, Mercedes stood and shuffled her way out of the row and on to the stage. There to meet her was Adele, statue in hand. She kissed her softly on the cheek and stood back, allowing Mercedes to have the podium.

"Wow…" She had to pause and take a couple of deep breaths. "_Three_ Grammys! This is a dream come true!"

The entire auditorium broke out in spontaneous applause and she fought hard to concentrate on what she was going to say next. "I didn't think I was going to be up here again tonight so I've already thanked everyone that I wanted to thank." About to flee the stage she suddenly paused. "Actually, no. There is one person left that I haven't thanked yet. I was going to wait until after the show to do it in person, but I think now is the perfect opportunity."

She looked hard into the audience, searching for a face. "There's one person who's been with me in this since the beginning. One person, who in high school, had the sheer cheek to abuse the skills of the AV club to put my name up in lights, because he believed that we would be seeing my name up in lights for the rest of our lives.

This foolish boy dared to sit in class and film me performing, then posted the video on Youtube. Some of you might remember that Mercedes Inferno clip. That clip went viral, became a channel and those were the small beginnings of Miss Mercedes Jones. At the time, when I asked why he did it, he said it was because he believed in me and what I could become. He told me that it was time for my dream to stop being a dream and become a reality. That I was the cream 'rising to the top'.

He is the most focused and self-determined man that I know. I've never known anyone more fiercely passionate about the ones that he loves, ready to defend those who are being hurt and sacrifice himself and his pride. He joined an unpopular sports team in school for me. He took repeated slushies to the the face in the hallways for me. To have to take work in a strip club during a tough economic time in order to help support your family is nothing to be ashamed of. I am proud to be with someone who would go to any length to support their loved ones. I've been on the receiving end of it and I know that it's the greatest feeling in the world.

Years ago, back in school, one random morning in the hallway when we weren't even together, this guy asked if I would ever get married one day. And I said, 'yeah, after my first Grammy'. Now suddenly I'm standing up here and I have three and I realize that I'd better put things right really quickly. So Sam, where are you?"

There was a sudden shuffle in the audience and all eyes went to where Sam was sitting, the spotlight suddenly falling on him and his face filling the huge screen. Her eyes immediately filled with tears. She touched her heart then reached out her hand towards him and he replicated the gesture, first touching his heart then reaching out his hand towards her. "Sammy baby... Look! We did it! Not just one but three Grammys. And all because of you. Believing in me. And loving me. Right here right now my dream has become a reality. There's just one part left to make it complete. So I need to apologize right now, coz I know the romantic in you wants to be the one to do this, but I sort of have the stage right now, and I really want to say, I love you, I have always loved you and I will always love you. Sam Evans... will you marry me?"

There was total silence as all looked to Sam for his response and he didn't disappoint. His beaming smile lit up the screen, and even without the use of a microphone his booming 'hell yes!' was heard from the stage.

Mercedes squealed, tears of joy flooding her face as Adele grabbed her by the waist and was the first to offer her congratulations. The entire auditorium broke out in hysterical clapping and cheering as Sam fought his way out of his row to come towards her, his every move caught on camera.

And in years to come, one of the highlights of Mercedes Jones' autobiography was the revelation that at that very moment, all she could hear above the noise of the auditorium was the sound of an anonymous producer saying "Screw going to the commercials. This is TV history being made!"


End file.
